England’s Matt Wallace Beats Compatriot Andrew Johnston To Grab Hero Indian Open At The Demanding DLF Golf & Country Club In Gurgaon; Local Hope Sharma Settles For Joint 7th Place
Mr. Pawan Munjal, Chairman, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Hero MotoCorp with Matt Walace, Hero Indian Open 2018 Champion
Matt Wallace admitted to having thoughts of winning the Hero Indian Open trophy sometime in the middle of the round on the third day. And to think, he was three-over after first eight holes of the week.
The third day was the day when the DLF Golf & Country Club was at its toughest. He shot a grinding 70 and that took him atop the leaderboard alongside the home boy Shubhankar Sharma.
It had yielded a 65 and 66 to Emiliano Grillo on first two days and it produced a 64 for Shubhankar on second day. But on the third day, when Stephen Gallacher shot the best of 67, Wallace produced a 70.
And on the final day with the conditions once again a little better, Wallace’s 68 and Johnston’s 66 brought them together at the finish and then Wallace pulled away.
While Wallace won, Johnston was second and Shubhankar was Tied-7th, his second successive Top-10 in as many weeks.
Wallace said, “I played great. Ever since being three over through eight at the start of the week, I’ve played some of the best golf of my life and to do it in that style at the end there capped it off.”
“Beef really had a great round today because I was playing fantastic and thought I might have been a few more clear.
“I hit some really good shots and that play-off: I pumped it down there on the last and it went a long way and then a four iron went even further than I thought it would, so I was jacked up a bit. To hit two shots like that is exactly why I play the game.
“With the people that were coming up behind me, there were some real class players. Beef’s putt on the last should have gone in but it was just my day today.”